In debates about the nature of scientific explanation, one theme repeatedly arises: that explanation is about providing understanding. However, the concept of understanding has only recently been explored in any depth, and this paper attempts to introduce a useful concept of understanding to that literature and explore it. Understanding is a higher level cognition, the recognition of connections between various pieces of knowledge. This conception can be brought to bear on the conceptual issues that have thus (...) far been unclear in the literature. Though this notion of understanding is broad, explaining various concepts of explanation, it is robust enough to underwrite an objective and useful notion of explanation. (shrink)

I argue that advancing “second-generation” or mechanistic causal knowledge of individual outcomes requires a comprehensive research programme that uses a variety of different methods in addition to the ones described in the paper under discussion. I also highlight that environment-focused approaches can be as instrumental in identifying potential phenotypic causes as gene-focused approaches.

It is no secret that the methodology within psychiatric research has been challenged to the point of a possible paradigm shift. After decades of failed attempts to determine biological markers for the mental illnesses classified by the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, we are witnessing a radical transformation of the way we think about mental illness. While research seems to be on the right track by migrating from a discrete categorical approach to a dimensional matrix of the neurobiological conditions responsible for cognition, (...) there are concerns that the neurosciences involved in the development of this dimensional framework will be unable to arrive at a diagnostic system appropriate for clinicians. Consequently, it has been suggested that researchers and clinicians should develop distinct ontologies. I argue that such an approach will not do justice to the complexity of mental illness and offer insight into the applicability of a phenomenological approach in psychiatric research. (shrink)

Although the paradigm of problems and their solutions are vastly diverse in business organizations, yet this paper focuses on two specific but important issues relating employee empowerment to their efficiency that are tied to higher attrition rates in some companies that are of much concern to senior managements. The causes are modelled and explained. The causes often relate to faulty and inadequate employee empowerment and motivation systems in place. This paper attempts to address two unique problems associated with workforce learning (...) and organizational empowerment that could be solved using knowledge management approaches. These are: i. What causes high attrition and reduced performance? ii. What changes in organizational learning structures should be implemented to address these problems? A mathematical model has been designed based on which axiomatic inferences have been derived to explain the problems and seek strategic solutions for the same. Our findings suggest that organizations must do more to support and promote employee empowerment by looking categorically into the problem issues that affect overall organizational efficiency. We hope our model successfully helps to elucidate the problem explained insofar in this research by addressing the core issues that define such problem statements. Organizations should strive to develop strategic tools to handle problems of employee attrition that are often the result of lack of oversight, and implementation of poorly executed strategies. (shrink)

Theoretical models propose that attentional biases might account for the maintenance of social anxiety symptoms. However, previous eye-tracking studies have yielded mixed results. One explanation i...

Care is among the most important concepts in healthcare. It is not only a descriptive concept, but it also conveys a normative orientation. Approaches to the ethics of care have shown that care can indeed be understood as an overarching normative concept that integrates different normative orientations. Nonetheless, determining what constitutes good care is usually a matter of finding reasonable compromises. In healthcare settings, a typical compromise involves finding a balance between optimal care for individuals on the one hand and (...) the institutional demands of providing care to many care receivers over long periods of time as well as the limits of what can legitimately be asked of individual care providers on the other. (shrink)

The present piece is aimed at discussing the relationship between religion and political power. Basically, social psychology like other humanistic sciences had been fully impacted by the effects of first and Second World War. Under such a context, many scholars devoted particular attention to the study of prejudice and discrimination. In the following pages we will try to synthesize how religion contributes for the conformation of ideology and social depictions. In part, this does not suffice to affirm religion is responsible (...) for nationalism but both share analogical element in their respective formations. This paper is accompanied with the analysis of an empirical research carried out from 2006-2007 in Cromagnon Sanctuary, Buenos Aires Argentina. In brief, let us readers to remind that on 30 December of 2004, more than 400 hundred youths congregated to celebrate a new year and hear Callejeros recital, their favorite Rock and Roll band. But came out wrong whenever a flare impacted in the ceiling firing suddenly all stadiums wherein this event was being carried out. As a result of this tragic accident, 194people died and more than 400 manifested diverse respiratory chronic pathologies. This event was well known as the Republic of Cromagnon tragedy. (shrink)

In a brilliant and explosively controversial work, the author attacks modern science for destroying our spiritual sense of self. What is the role of science in present-day society? Should we be as dazzled as we are by the innovations, the insights, and the miraculous improvements in material life that science has wrought? Or is there a darker, more pernicious side to our scientific success? Renowned British science columnist Bryan Appleyard thoroughly explores each of these provocative topics in a book that (...) has incited the ire of the scientific community. He points out that while scientists have shaped our lives and our beliefs, they have consistently failed to explain human consciousness, the soul, or the meaning of life. From Galileo to Darwin, from Copernicus to Oppenheimer, countless scientists have proclaimed a universe in which human beings are only an accidental presence. The unwitting result is that science has cast humankind adrift, paralyzing us with fear and cutting us off from personal or religious truth. In Appleyard's view, science has done us "appalling spiritual damage." These startling conclusions have prompted strong counterattacks from the scientific establishment. Yet regardless of where one falls in the debate, Understanding the Present forces readers to re-examine society's blind faith in the benevolence of modern science. "An exposition that is dazzling for its concrete illustrations and examples."--The New York Times "A withering indictment of modern science . . . This should crack a few test tubes."--Kirkus Reviews. (shrink)

In the healthcare sector, race, ethnicity and religion have become an increasingly important factor in terms of patient care due to an increasingly diverse population. Health agencies at a national and local level produce a number of guides to raise awareness of cultural issues among healthcare professionals and hospitals may implement additional non-medical services, such as the provision of specific types of food and dress to patients or the hiring of chaplains, to accommodate the needs of patients with religious requirements. (...) However, in an attempt to address the spiritual, cultural and religious needs of patients healthcare providers often assume that ethnic minority groups are homogenous blocks of people with similar needs and fail to recognize that a diverse range of views and practices exist within specific groups themselves. This paper describes the example of the Sikh community and the provision of palliative care in hospitals and hospices. Although, the majority of patients classifying themselves as Sikhs have a shared language and history, they can also be divided on a number of lines such as caste affiliation, degree of assimilation in the west, educational level and whether baptized or not, all of which influence their beliefs and practices and hence impact on their needs from a health provider. Given that it is unfeasible for health providers to have knowledge of the multitude of views within specific religious and ethnic communities and accounting for the tight fiscal constraints of healthcare budgets, this paper concludes by raising the question whether healthcare providers should step away from catering for religious and cultural needs that do not directly affect treatment outcomes, and instead put the onus on individual communities to provide resources to meet spiritual, cultural and religious needs of patients. (shrink)

Objectives To investigate risk perception relating to living kidney donation, to compare the risk donors would accept with current practice and identify influential factors. Design An observational study consisting of questionnaires completed by previous living donors and the general public. Participants selected the risk they would accept from a list of options, in various scenarios. Risk communication was investigated by randomly dividing the sample and presenting risk differently. Setting Primary care (two centres) and secondary care (one centre), London. Participants 175 (...) questionnaires were sent to patients who had previously undergone living-donor nephrectomy and to members of the public consulting a general practitioner. The living-donor sample comprised 77 consecutive donors at Guy's Hospital from May 2003 to January 2005. The general-public sample was recruited from two London healthcare centres. Of the eventual 151 participants, 61 were living donors and 90 were from the general public. Main outcome measure The amount of risk a participant would accept to donate a kidney. Results 74% of participants were willing to accept a risk of death higher than 1/3000. The most commonly accepted risk was 1/2 (29%). Those presented with a ‘chance of survival’ accepted higher risks than those presented with a ‘risk of death’ (p<0.01). Greater risks were accepted when the recipient was closely related and, for some, when the recipient's prognosis was worse. No difference was observed between the living-donor and general-public groups. Conclusions Kidney donors will accept a higher risk of death than is currently quoted, especially if risks are presented in terms of chance of survival. (shrink)

이 연구는 한국 여성주의의 이슈들이 딜레마에 놓여있다는 문제의식에서 출발한 것이다. 우리나라 여성주의 안에서는 모성, 성매매, 낙태, 여성의 정치화 등의 문제들은 대립적구조의 논쟁가운데 있지만 그 가운데 어느 것을 선택해도 여성 이슈에 맹점을 드러낼 수밖에 없다. 그럼에도 불구하고 하나를 선택하는 방식의 여성운동은 여성들에게 혼란을 야기 시킨다고 보인다. 그러나 실상 딜레마의 문제는 서로 다른 맥락적인 지식들의 충돌이고 여성주의와 여성 운동 안에서 혼란은 이러한 맥락적인 지식을 다루는 차이의 문제에 익숙하지 않아서 나타난 것이다. 따라서 이 연구는 차이를 주장했던 흑인 여성주의, 동시적으로 일어나는 억압, 제3세계를 위한 (...) 사이보그 이론을 제시한 도나 하러웨이와 같은 여성주의자들의 사례를 통해서 차이가 다루어지는 방식에 관한 연구를 시도하였다. 그리고 정치사회학적인 맥락 속에서 차이의 메커니즘을 설명하고 있다. 즉 타고난 것이 아니라 권력적인 관계 속에서 획득되는 정체성에 주목하여 차이를 다중적인 정체성으로 설명을 시도하였다. 다중적인 정체성은 차이를 경험하는 여성들을 설명하기 위한 대한 새로운 존재론적인 시도이고 이때 나타나는 딜레마란 해결될 수 있는 것이 어떤 것이 아니라 차이들의 경합으로 생겨난 필연적인 현상이라는 결론이 이른다. 그리고 글로리아 안젤두아와의 이론을 통해서 다중적인 정체성을 가진 사이보그 삶속에서 여성 들이 어떻게 딜레마를 배척하지 않고 살아갈수 있는가에 대한 제안을 하고 있다. (shrink)

수치심은 우리 자신의 부족함에 대한 슬픔의 감정이기도 하지만, 그 부족함을 반성하고 고치도록 우리 자신을 이끄는 감정일 수도 있다. 본 논문은 수치심의 이러한 양가성을 흥미롭게 보고, 이를 분석하기 위해 맹자와 누스바움의 수치심 개념을 적극 참조하고자 한다. 누스바움에 따르면, 수치심은 인간의 불완전성에 대한 불안을 극복하기 위해 정상과 비정상의 이분법에 따라 사회의 특정한 사람들을 낙인찍는 데 활용되는 감정이다. 따라서 수치심은 매우 비합리적이고 신뢰하기 어려운 감정이라 볼 수 있다. 또한 누스바움에 따르면, 인간이 수치심을 느낀다는 것은 곧 자신의 불완전함을 받아들이지 못하고 신처럼 완전해지기를 바라는 욕구를 (...) 반영하고 있다. 이와 달리 맹자는 수치심이 인간이라면 누구나 가질 수밖에 없는 심성으로서 타인의 고통을 차마 지켜보기 힘들어하는 감정이라고 말한다. 그래서 인간은 수치심을 통해 자기 자신을 성찰하고 인간의 도리를 성실하게 지키고자 노력할 수 있다. 결론적으로 수치심은 인간성을 반영하는 감정이자 동시에 인간다움을 성장시키는 데 중요한 추동력으로 작용할 수 있는 감정이다. 누스바움과 맹자가 수치심에 대해 매우 다른 의견을 나타냄에도 불구하고, 누스바움이 지적한 ‘생산적인 수치심’은 맹자의 수치심 개념과 크게 다르지 않으며, 그 점에서 양쪽의 소통가능성이 발견될 수 있다. 누스바움은 생산적인 수치심이 긍정적으로 발현될 수 있기 위해 도덕적인 가치를 지향함으로써 나르시시즘적 경향성을 차단하고 인간의 불완전성에 대해 겸허하게 인정하는 자세가 필요하다는 점을 강조한다. 필자는 맹자의 수치심 개념이 누스바움의 이러한 전제와 결코 충동하지 않으며, 바로 그 점에서 두 철학자의 견해가 양립할 수 있는 공통지대가 발견된다고 본다. 우리는 먼저 누스바움과 맹자의 수치심 개념을 살펴본 후 양자의 차이점을 비교 분석해볼 것이다. 그런 후에 두 철학자가 공통적으로 주목하는 점을 살펴보면서 그들 견해의 접목가능성을 논하고자 한다. 이 과정을 통해 우리는 수치심을 이해하는 것이 인간 존재에 대한 이해를 넓히고 인간다움을 향한 우리의 내적 성장을 위해서도 도움이 된다는 것을 확인할 것이다. (shrink)

This anthology is a unique compilation of scientific contributions on the topic of measurement and understanding, showing how terms such as number, measurement, understanding, model, pattern are used in a wide variety of disciplines. Based on the results and experiences from their own projects, 23 researchers comment on the potentials and limitations of individual methodological approaches and success factors of interdisciplinary collaboration. In doing so, they sound out the different significance of quantification and empirical evidence for their own (...) disciplines and examine the influence of methodological approaches on existing models and images. The common goal is to want to understand the world; the methods, however, are highly diverse. (shrink)

During the last decade, scholars of business ethics have become increasingly interested in the construct of moral courage. However, despite the importance of understanding both moral courage and the factors that might facilitate its expression, this topic has still received relatively limited study and several areas have been identified as being in need of further exploration. These include the need to investigate courage from within a full range of theoretical frameworks, including feminist ones, from within which, little is yet (...) known about this construct; the need for developmental perspectives on moral courage ; and, the identification of developmentally informed approaches for facilitating its expression. This article responds to these needs by providing a conceptual framework for understanding moral courage through a feminist and developmental ethic of care, and by describing the implications of this framework for the expression of moral courage in business and organizational settings. (shrink)

This is the first clear and non-technical introduction to philosophy through the works of the 18th century philosopher, David Hume. It covers every major philosophical issue commented upon by Hume, from epistemology, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics, to ethics and political philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.

C.S. Lewis was a major public intellectual in Britain, beginning from the late 1930s and continuing to his death in 1963. In both his non-fiction, especially The Abolition of Man, and his fiction, most importantly in That Hideous Strength, he offers a critique of rationalism and scientism that is often strikingly similar to those that Michael Oakeshott penned in the late 1940s and early 1950s. This essay examines the question to what extent this similarity is merely superficial, and to what (...) extent the two writers shared a similar basis for their views. Furthermore, it examines whether there is an actual thread of influence: had Oakeshott been reading Lewis before writing his critique of rationalism, and if so, to what extent did Lewis’s work inform Oakeshott’s? (shrink)

Professor Kenneth Inada, State University of New York at Buffalo, writes: "There is no ordinary volume. It is a well crafted work containing brilliant reactions to traditional Chinese philosophical thought." -/- Ninian Smart, President, American Academy of Religion, Rowney Chair of Philosophy, The University of California, Santa Barbara, in a review of Understanding the Chinese Mind in Philosophy, East and West, writes: "This is an important book ... Robert E. Allinson is to be congratulated on putting together this thoughtful (...) and reflective volume." -/- Professor Mary Bockover, Humboldt State University, writes: "Understanding the Chinese Mind is an intriguing book that crosses linguistic and cultural boundaries to probe various issues in the Chinese philosophical tradition. In taking philosophy to be a kind of mirror of the mind, this book uses Western philosophical tools to provide an understanding of the Chinese mind through its philosophy." -/- Currently in its 11th impression, Understanding the Chinese Mind: The Philosophical Roots, was first published in 1989. Impressions of the work have been made in 2000, 1999, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989: 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1989. These essays represent an attempt to understand the Chinese mind through its philosophy. The first volume of its kind, the collection demonstrates how Chinese philosophy can be understood in light of techniques and categories taken from Western philosophy. Eight philosophers, each of whom is a recognized authority in Western philosophy as well as in some area of Chinese philosophy, contribute chapters from perspectives that indicate the uniqueness of the Chinese way of thinking in categories adapted from Western philosophy. The book covers a wide range of topics including metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, logic, the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and western parallels and non-parallels of philosophical development. (shrink)

The Sanskrit term dāya is generally understood as inheritance. This study examines an influential inheritance treatise from medieval Bengal, the Dāyabhāga, to explore how dāya conceptually overlaps with gifts, even though in inheritance, the deceased does not physically hand over the inheritance to the heir, a situation which appears remarkably distinct from gift-giving. Recent Euro-American research has explored the overlap between gift and inheritance considering primarily testate situations. However, attention has not been paid to this overlap by Indological scholarship, though (...) abundant work on Hindu inheritance exist. Apart from certain debates regarding etymology of dāya, there has not been much scholarly reflection on the conceptual understanding of dāya, perhaps due to the practical application of Hindu law during its times. This article, through a close textual study of the Dāyabhāga, attempts to fill in a small gap by demonstrating a conceptual overlap between inheritance and gifts, not just in testate, but in intestate situations as well. The study suggests that dāya is, in essence, gift-like, even though there are distinctions between gifts and inheritance. (shrink)

Although clinical interpretation originated with Freud, the latter's positivist preference for purely observational methods made him ambivalent toward interpretive methods. According to Rubovits-Seitz, the legacy of Freud's positivism still pervades clinical thinking and interferes with progress in investigating and improving interpretive methods. He reviews the paradigm shift in general science from positivism to postpositivism by way of demonstrating the compatibility of interpretive inquiry with a postpositivist approach. Post-Freudian models of clinical interpretation are evaluated, andclinical methods of interpretation are compared with (...) interpretive approachesin nonclinical fields. A detailed discussion of the neglected problem ofjustifying interpretations incorporates evaluations of specific justifyingprocedures and a case report illustrating applications of such methods. Thework concludes with a consideration of common but avoidable errors in clinicalinterpretation along with remedial strategies for dealing with them. Following _Depth-Psychological Understanding, _clinicians may no longer take for granted the interpretive process and the accuracy of their own interpretations. Rubovits-Seitz's scholarly survey marks a major advance in comprehending the methodology of clinical interpretation and in setting forth both the problems and promise of interpretive methods. (shrink)

Current debates on freedom of will disregard that understanding is a necessary presupposition to experience the will as free. Theories of freedom such as those by Frankfurt, Watson, and Wolf are demonstrably incapable of explaining freedom in several quotidian situations because of a lack of a concept of understanding. In explicating why understanding is a necessary condition for freedom, I present an alternative theory that I call the Understanding View. It proposes that the experience of freedom (...) depends on the degree to which we understand the inner context of our identity and the outer context of a given situation. The Understanding View succeeds in accounting for freedom in those areas where its main rivals fail as well as in those situations to which they can successfully be applied. This makes the Understanding View more useful in addressing the question of the freedom of will. (shrink)

Teny Pinkard's discussion of explanation in science and history raises some issues important for social science generally, as well as for history. I would like to focus on his analysis of the relationship between explanation and understanding, with the aim of reopening an issue which his treatment appears to have closed. In doing so, I hope to encourage further analysis of the problem of how we ‘understand’. My own discussion of this issue will be brief, moving only a little (...) beyond Pinkard's. Primarily. I hope to show that ‘understanding’ is in fact a problem, and one that cannot merely be viewed as secondary to an analysis of ‘explanation’. (shrink)

For most of the 20th century, analytic epistemology has been narrowly focused on the concept of knowledge and on closely-related issues like justification. But decades of work on Gettier problems, lottery paradoxes, and the like, have given mainstream analytic epistemology the appearance of a degenerating research program. In response, some analytic epistemologists have begun to investigate other cognitive states, like wisdom and understanding, that many pre-analytic philosophers valued as much or more than knowledge. In fact, Linda Zagzebski has argued (...) that Western philosophy exhibits the following historical pattern: in eras given to skeptical worries, philosophers have focused on certainty and justification; in eras less exercised by skepticism, philosophers have focused on understanding and the related issue of explanation. My aims are two-fold. First, I add to Zagzebski’s picture by showing that metaphysical and metaphilosophical issues have also contributed to this historical pattern. Second, I use the expanded picture to explain (i) the 19th century advent of verstehen as a term of art, (ii) the analytic tradition’s lack of interest in understanding, and (iii) the revival of interest in understanding in recent analytic epistemology. I conclude that the pro-verstehen movement of the 19th century and the pro-understanding movement of the 21st were motivated by similar concerns pertaining to the epistemic strictures of scientism, strictures which bear a complex relationship to skepticism. (shrink)

This paper studies Rom 13:1-10, analyzing the inner connection between Paul’s exhortation to submit to governing authorities and his admonition to love one another. It addresses interpretative and exegetical issues, including possible textual interpolations and the meanings of key terms. The analysis demonstrates that Paul’s argument hinges on the incrementum (αὔξησις) of underlying rationales, moving from general and external incentives to personal and internal motivations. This study highlights that the coherence of the passage relies on understanding both its imperatives (...) and motivations, ultimately suggesting a deeper moral imperative. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Desideri's Understanding of EmptinessEnzo Gualtiero BargiacchiThe works of Ippolito Desideri (1684–1733)1 lay forgotten in the archives for a very long time;2 had they been studied, European studies of Tibet and Buddhism would have begun a century earlier. The partial publication of his Relazione in 1904 was not enough to make scholars of Buddhism interested in the subject and resulted only a modest enthusiasm in the geographical and anthropological (...) fields.3 Later the Swedish geographer and explorer Sven Hedin (1865–1952) stated that Desideri "had accomplished a journey which ought to make his name forever famous,"4 and also that "by far the greatest part of Desideri's narrative is a description of the cult and religion of the Tibetans, which is not less admirable than the geographical part."5 But it was yet another geographer and explorer, Filippo De Filippi (1869–1938), who made available the Jesuit missionary's work by publishing an English version of the Relazione6 in 1932. Charles Oldham recognized that "there will no longer be any excuse for the ignorance and misconceptions regarding Desideri, to which Cornelis Wessels and De Filippi have drawn such pointed attention."7In reality, however, Desideri's work would still be awarded inadequate consideration for some time, apart from the generous praise of Giuseppe Tucci, which appeared exclusively in Italian articles and books, and of a few other scholars of Buddhism. This continued even after the critical edition of the Relazione and letters, expertly edited by Luciano Petech,8 despite the prestigious reputation of this academic and the ISMEO, the institute directed by Tucci that sponsored the series; very little attention was also paid to the translations by Saverian missionary Giuseppe Toscano9 (1911–2003) of Desideri's works in the Tibetan language.10 Around the turn of the millennium academics such as Donald Lopez, Rudolf Kaschewsky, and Martin Brauen began to pay closer attention to Desideri's work.In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the Jesuit missionary's work, as shown by the panel "Buddhism in the Writings of Ippolito Desideri" at the Fifteenth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies (Atlanta, 23–28 June 2008), as well as two fundamental events concerning it; now Michael Sweet is completing the new English edition and translation of the Relazione.11Even today Desideri's writings can still provide academics in various disciplines with useful material for reflection, and not only in historical terms. As far as Tibetan religion is concerned, Desideri extensively discussed many important topics, in the Relazione and in his works in Tibetan, with considerable interpretative skill. [End Page 101] Unfortunately, none of this information reached the scholarly community, with the exception of a few rough ideas.12Roy Andrew Miller13 has pointed out his correct interpretation of the mantra oṁmaṇi padme hūṁ; more recently Rudolf Kaschewsky has maintained that Desideri's excellent linguistic analysis of this mantra "may mark the memorable beginning of Tibetology in the West."14 But the most surprising result is without doubt his perfect understanding of the Buddhist concept of emptiness. Tucci states thatSome aspects of Tibetan theology are very difficult to understand: for example, the concept of Ton pa gni—insubstantiality of all phenomenal things—in which, following the ancient mystical tendencies of the Mahayana, Buddhists dissolve all appearance and illusion, men and things, inexistent and unreal like a dream or mirage. Even today very few Westerners are able to attain a perfect understanding of the depth of this doctrine. It is therefore amazing how Desideri, with no knowledge of Indian philosophy, was able to grasp the real meaning of these difficult ideas.15Let us define here the reasons for this discovery and consider its profound meaning.Desideri certainly possessed remarkable linguistic and logical-philosophical aptitude, and he had honed and developed these skills during the challenging studies typical of Jesuit schools. He was furthermore assisted by a tenacious and heroic determination to fulfill his mission, but one of the decisive factors in explaining the reasons for his cognitive success lies in the complete honesty of his approach, as a man and a priest convinced of... (shrink)

Introduction -- Methods for thinking -- The making of the modern subject -- Implications -- Example 1 of a Foucauldian approach : aging and prisons -- Example 2 of a Foucualdian approach : social work -- Summary.

To combat the OneHealth threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the use of antibiotics in agriculture is subject to significant governance-led initiatives to change food system behaviours, including promoting more responsible use of antibiotics on farms through market-level interventions. To combat knowledge gaps about how consumers perceive risks associated with antibiotic use and AMR in farming, the current study carried out an in-depth qualitative focus group study incorporating a risk information exposure exercise with food consumers on the island of Ireland (_n_ (...) = 36). Using a theoretical lens of social representation theory, a thematic analysis of the collected data identified how participants made sense of, often new, information on agricultural antibiotic use and AMR. Participants displayed high awareness and concern for AMR but low understanding and misconceptions around AMR transmission from the agri-food sector. Social representations about antibiotics and food and farming systems shaped preferences for a movement away from antibiotics in farming, and in particular, prophylactic use. However, participants acknowledged the role of antibiotics to protect animal health and the integrity of the food supply chain. They debated the lack of a simple fix to antibiotics in the agri-food system and revealed preferences for preventive actions at farm level and supporting actions at market level. The study highlights the need to first tackle low levels of public understanding through effective risk communication including strategies such as targeted message framing and proactive, cross-sector OneHealth awareness campaigns, followed by the introduction of a trusted antibiotic use food labelling system. (shrink)

Contemporary debates on the principle of compositionality provoke a perplexing problem about its import on natural language. Whether the principle of compositionality makes any substantial constraints on the meaningfulness of natural language has an indeterminate answer. In this paper, I try to argue against the principle of compositionality for natural language by considering its significance for understanding. Part one is a general survey of the principle of compositionality pertaining to the meaning of a complex expression; and in part two, (...) I will focus on the issue of understanding a sentence or more complex expression, pointing out that principle of compositionality is neither sufficient nor necessary for understanding, even though compositionality is true for natural language, it is trivial and useless; the final part aims to criticize the principle of compositionality from its underspecification of meaning, which is at odds with our general idea of the representational feature of natural language and the hypothesis of isomorphism among mind, language and reality. (shrink)

This paper argues that it is the human search for authentic understanding that gives birth to radical hermeneutics, and not the reverse. Radical hermeneutics in the “contemporary” sense begins with Martin Heidegger’s critical reinterpretation of Immanuel Kant’s answer to the question of “What is the man?” , and continues with his reflection on Being as the foundation of hermeneutics. Hans-Georg Gadamer has developed Heidegger’s thesis into what he termed philosophical hermeneutics, while Jacques Derrida seized Heidegger’s Kehre as the momentum (...) to launch a typically Nietzschean interpretation, that is, to “return” to understanding in its genetic stage. Despite their difference, Gadamer and Derrida believed that authentic understanding is possible only if it is motivated by a creative force that remains loyal to humanness: identity in difference and difference in identity. (shrink)

Background Paramedicine is a newly regulated profession in Australia and with the introduction of regulation in 2018 for this profession came increased responsibilities – including the introduction of a professional code of conduct. Several countries now have regulation of paramedicine and associated professional codes to guide ethical and professional behaviour. Despite this, there has been no published research into paramedic understanding and use of their professional codes. Objectives To explore Australian paramedics’ use and understanding of their professional code (...) of conduct. Research design: This study used a qualitative descriptive design, underpinned by hermeneutic theory. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data and identify Australian paramedic perceptions surrounding the use of their code of conduct. Results 11 Registered Paramedics from several states and territories were interviewed. Participants were invited to interview by advertisement on social media and the Australasian College of Paramedicine Web site. Participants had varied professional backgrounds including clinical work, education providers and policymakers/managers. Four themes were identified as follows: Theme 1 – ‘You don’t know, what you can’t know’; Theme 2 – ‘I don’t need the code – the code is for others’; Theme 3 – ‘It’s about time’; Theme 4 – ‘Navigating the new profession’. Ethical considerations: Ethics approval was granted by the Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee (MUHREC) Project ID: 28921. All participants provided informed consent. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that paramedics’ knowledge and use of their code is limited, and participants appeared to mostly rely instead on ‘common sense’ morals. Participants did appear to want to understand the broad concepts of the code more and have this better integrated into the profession. The code was also interpreted as important to the paramedic profession and its new professional status, helping to legitimise it as a health profession in Australia. (shrink)